Perhaps this was a a new start. A new journey. Only time knew, and now was the time.

It was a cheery sunday afternoon on the SS Anne. The lighting was simply perfect and the waves crashed onto the time-rusted boat so delicately it rocked the boat ever-so-gently to produce a calming effect. The passengers were upbeat and controlled, relaxed and at ease. The decor was uplifting and the scents were plenty and bold. Everything was balanced and perfect. Maybe wasting a few hundred [POKE] was worth this five star cruise. A certain someone was given the opportunity to advertise the ship and get some money out of it, too.

The person, a young boy, was rumored to be an oddball of sorts and an expert in POKEChess. The boy, reigning from the sunny beaches of Summerland, was a festive one, to the very least. He faxed fliers and posters to Pokecenters all over the continent showcasing his one-of-a-kind, never-to-happen-ever-again event, "Battle on the Main Deck." It would be a contest of sorts; trainer versus trainer in a set of battles, only to end up in the final two. The grand prize? A stock of ten ultra balls, and a Soothe Bell. Expect nothing less from a luxury cruise liner.

Now, the boy. Excited to host a contest, went out of his way to personally greet every one of his challengers. Absurd sounding, is it not? To personally find every single person in a four story ship, shake their hands, and invite them to dinner? No one with a right mind would even attempt that feat: excluding Kono, that is.

"Well, Pikachu, I'm going back out to greet the crowds. You and Riolu stay in here, okay?"

Yeah, like that was going to happen. Pikachu might've been the most obedient creature out there, but Riolu was always out to explore. To have him stay in the same spot for more than ten seconds would be like having a Capterpie hold up a Wailord with only its tail. The hyped up Riolu was uneasy on the boat, much like the terrified Pikachu on the bookshelf. But really, they could hold.

Kono had head out to the front desk, where a few new people were bound to await him; a young woman named Emily, a foreigner from the Orange Islands named Travis, and some hippy named James. They seemed like the most formidable opponents in the tourney, others being low-life starters who just left home. That might've been the case for Travis, but it seemed different.

OOC (click to showhide)

Other events that should be mentioned are the "All-You-Can-Catch Pokemon Buffet", live poetry from Loprah Sinfree, a kissing booth, and the also endorsed-by-Kono Talent show, which can happen in the start. ^^

Travis looked around at all of the people. There weren't as many as he had expected, but there were still good numbers. They greatly ranged: fat to slim to young and old. Most people carried enormous suitcases which were bulging because of what they contained. Travis felt a little out of place with his small over-the-shoulder bag, but only just a little.

As he made his way up onto the boat via a big ramp he looked back over the region of Kanto. He had only been there a short time, and yet he had learned so much. Travis learned how to navigate through caves, how to battle, etc. But most importantly he learned the most important rule of all: not everyone could be trusted. And while Travis knew that he would end up over-trusting everyone anyways, he would always remember in the back of his mind the man that stole his friendly Pikachu. Pikachu. The word echoed through his head. She had become a distant memory now and his new pokemon were much more familiar. Nidoran and Squirtle were both impressive battlers, and obviously had retained the battling gene from their parents in the Orange Archipelago. As for Travis, he was not as impressive as pokemon, not nearly. Sure, he could command his pokemon to use some simple techniques in the heat of battle, but Nidoran and Squirtle were always the stars of the show. That was what had earned him his two Kanto Gym Badges: Talent. Squirtle had a type advantage over Flint of Pewter City, and Nidoran was a great swimmer which lead to Travis' victory over Misty. Lt. Surge had been the hardest battle Travis had ever experienced, but it had been Squirtle ingenious use of the move Withdraw and Nidoran's mud-Slap combined that proved the team triumphant.

But that was all over, it was time for a new adventure: Furoh. The name itself sounded cool; well, to Travis at least. He was sure that it would take more than talent alone to be successful in Furoh. Travis waved goodbye to all of the people he did not know that were on the dock waving to loved ones as the ocean liner sailed away. Travis collected himself and made his way over to the front desk, where he was told to go by the serious man who checked his ticket. The room was very bright and good looking; it reminded him of his home Kumquat hotel. Travis decided to take a seat in a comfortable green leather chair and wait for...well... whatever was supposed to happen. He was told he was going to meet someone, but not much else. Travis relaxed by pulling his cap down over his face and settling into the chair, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Emily looked over the rail on the front deck toward the glimmering sea, also keeping an eye on her pokemon. Emerald and Tanzanite played a small game of tag near Emily and Citrine sat on the railing next to her. Everything seemed so peaceful on the boat, but it ended shortly. “Treecko!” Emerald yelled at Tanzanite after she had pulled her tail, which would happen when ever Tanzanite got mad at her. “Ri!” Tanzanite yelled back at her. Before Emily could have separated them, Emerald launched a Pound attack at Tanzanite. “Oh boy. Not this again.” Emily said to herself as she tried to pull to two pokemon apart, she had Emerald and Citrine pulled Tanzanite away. After the two settled down, Emily returned Tanzanite and Emerald back to there poke balls and let Citrine sit on her shoulder. “Now, let’s hope those two wont fight again here….” Emily said to herself once more as she took off her black sunglasses and put the neatly in her pocket.

Soon, she turned back toward the sea and watches the waves calmly move across the open water. At once, it became peaceful just like nothing had happen. This may just be like I thought it would be, but going to Furoh is not like being in Johto… Emily silently though to herself as she began to drift into deep thought about what would happen when the ship arrives in Furoh. So many sudden changes, so little time to notice…

OCC (click to showhide)

Edited with more after reading what one member siad when I was gone form IRC chat....painful....

"Jolly greetings, passengers! I shake you warmly by the hand! I'd like to announce that we're now somewhere in the middle of the western sea, and we'll be redocking in Furoh tomorrow morning. Please be careful when you're on the deck! Thank you, and have a nice cruise!"

===

"Pika-pi!" cried the Pikachu, its little yellow paws in the air. It was a tad bit scared of the sea, rocking things, moving things, and rocking moving things out at sea. It was afraid, hiding under the covers of Kono's bed in torment, his Light Orb in one hand and his Pichu Plushie in the other. But Riolu, however, wasn't too surprised. He hopped off the top of a cashmere pillow he'd just literally blown to bits and trodded out the front door. At this point, I'm sure you can assume what happens.

===

"Thank you, and have a nice cruise!" heard Kono over the loudspeaker. He moved over to the railing, looking at a pod of Wailmer skip along the surface of the sea. They were playing, singing, maybe even dancing, along with the ship's up and down rhythms. The Pokemon were having fun, too! One of the ship's many goals and achievements; the perfect seaside experience. And for it to live out its dreams, it would be part of Kono's goal to do so.

He pulled out a list of his competitors, each with a picture. Scanning the list, he looked for the first competitor. A boy dressed in full blue with a Pikachu, waving goodbye on a smaller ship. He had some facial features that made him look like the renowned Ash Ketchum, not to mention his trademark Pikachu. Kono scanned the deck for the same boy in the picture. He would be his roomate on the ship. Hopefully, he was a reasonable person... He found a match. The boy, now somewhat taller, was resting on a sun-chair with his hat down.

Travis had to adjust his hat as the brim was blocking his eyes. The boy standing before him looked a bit younger than he, but not by much. Travis was temporarily blinded by the sun's luminosity as it beamed down on the pool deck; he only had a quick glance at the fellow. Travis had to let his pupils dilate before he could examine the lad more closely. Upon further inspection, the boy could in fact be older than Travis, but have gotten the smaller genes. Remembering the way his mother taught him how to formally acquaint someone, Travis jumped up from his seat to greet the boy. "Hello," Travis spoke cheerily while extended his hand, "my name is Travis. What’s yours-" The boy in the hat stopped himself and pondered for a moment. Something gave him an uneasy feeling inside when he thought about what the boy had said. "How did you know my name?

Shiro, upon hearing the announcement from the captain, smiled. "This is great, Furoh. A new place..." Shiro wasn't too fond of Sunyshore, where he lived for the past 16 years of his life. The constant blackouts got the best of him, and he used the excuse of staying close to the beach not to leave, but ever since Raine came into his life, he wanted adventure.Right. Now that everything's in place...He pulled out his 4 Pokeballs and called them all out, Out came a Piplup, Chikorita, Pikachu, and a Charmander. As they all streched, Shiro said, "Alright guys, we're on the ship. Charmy, don't go into the deck without me, Raine and Pika, take care of Yuki and Charmy, kay? I'm gonna get something for all of us to eat."Charmy, being a bit of a little kid, frowned, while Pika and Raine both nodded. Yuki just went on to the top of the bed and curled up to sleep. "Alright, I'm off." He closed the door."Hmm... now where can I get some food?"He walked to the deck and started to look around for anyone who would know.

"Oh, pardon me for not introducing myself. I'm Kono, the one who put up that bulletin in the Pokemon Center. You're my room mate. Room 69?"

He pulled out his ticket, marked with his room number, his trainer status, and his legit trainer status. Lines and colors were plentiful. In the right corner was a picture of beautiful, stunning him. Perhaps, at sometimes, he took too much pride in himself, and it would always end up bad. But really, it didn't really matter. He took another look at the much taller, maybe older boy. Something reminded him of something.

"...are you sure you're not that one boy? Ash Ketchum? You sure look like him..."

===

Riolu trodded off into the boat's hallways. Even as cruel as it was in battle, it was a rather cute and lovable little creature. Many of the passengers and their children cowered away in fear, but Riolu didn't mind. It kept walking until a man dressed in black, particularly tall in stature, stopped him right where he was.

"Well, hello there, little Riolu. Where's your owner?"

"Lu, lulu!"

His smile was quivering into a frown as he pulled up a black, pokeball-like shape. The man, obviously faking his happiness, pulled up his walkie-talkie and pushed the pink polkadotted button. What kind of walkie-talkie has that? "Hey, boss. I found a Riolu. Should I-" A bunch of static and unrecognizable sounds shot out the other side of the walkie talkie in a rather abrupt fashion. It was ear piercing. Even the taller figure covered his ears.

James looked out onto the ocean with thoughts off his journey ahead of him. He sighed to himself, this was going to be tiresome and ridiculous. His fingers patted impatiently on the book in his lap, he was already tired of his journey and it had barely begun.

Are you even listening!? Mister!

Hey!

The girl who had been trying to get James' attention for a few minutes snapped and tapped on his shoulder harshly. This act finally got his attention as he turned his lazy eyes over to her, suddenly she wasn't so eager, her excitement was replaced with fear as she looked into his cold stare. Determined to get a picture with her Piplup she toughened up, "Sir... can you p-please take a picture of me with m-my P-piplup?". James looked down on the young girl and grabbed the camera out of her hands. He then nodded over to the railing. The young trainer obeyed without question and made her way to the ship railing with her Piplup on her shoulder. James took one arm and held the camera weakly in front of one eye, his monotone voice barely made it to the girl, "Smile..." She did her best to muster a grin, but it came out weak and forced.

Snap!

James put down the camera on a nearby table and went for his book. Without glancing back at the girl he slid on his glasses and started reading. The trainer took up her camera and shouted a weak, "Thanks!" before scurrying off. James didn't notice, he was feeling the letter in his pocket. He wanted to keep it off his mind right now and tried to finish a paragraph. It was too much, maybe some food would take his mind off things.

It took a moment for Travis to realize how short the lad really was. He remembered one of his mother's many words of wisdom: "Everyone's different,". Travis had been clearly instructed to accept everyone he met on the journey, and had even been made to promise it to his mother to be allowed to leave home. And Kono seemed like the beginning of that promise. Travis' only hope was that the boy wouldn't be a snobbish brat, and that the night could be pleasant. Travis immediately recognized the ticker Kono was holding as nearly identical to the one he had. He whipped out his own S.S. ANNE ticket and compared it with Kono's. Travis gave Kono a weird look at the mentioning of "Ash Ketchum", having no idea who the boy of which Kono spoke of was. "I.. I don't know who you are talking about..." Travis replied as the air around them was overcome by a strong feeling of awkwardness.

Shiro began looking around, and noticed a skinny silver-haired girl. He at first began to ponder whether or not he should talk or not, before he mustered the courage to walk up to her.He tapped her shoulder and asked, "Hey, ummm....excuse me."He hoped the girl wouldn't snap at him, as one girl that once lived next door to him.That's one experience I never want to see again

“Well Citrine, if the others are in there poke balls, you shall go in yours too.” Emily said to Citrine as she returned him to his poke ball just as a boy approached Emily. He tapped her shoulder and asked, "Hey, ummm....excuse me."

“Well, hello there.” Emily said as she smiled at the boy.

“I’m Shiro.” Shiro said with a little more confidence than before.

“The name’s Emily.” Emily said as she put out her hand and shack it, just at the same time Tanzanite popped out of her ball. “Ri!” She said at Shiro before Emily picked her up and holding her in Emily’s arms.

“It sure is.” Emily said as Shiro petted Tanzanite. “Also, this is Tanzanite here.” Emily smiled as she looked down at Tanzanite and then looked back at Shiro.

“Is this your first journey away from home?” She asked as Emily let Tanzanite down onto the deck and watched it run off toward the railing. Seeing Tanzanite happy again, Emily smiled. Emily looked at Tanzanite for a little before she turned back to Shiro.

Shiro said, "Yeah. I came from Sunyshore. I had to be picked up when they stopped there."He looked as the Riolu left and he turned his focus back to Emily. "So where do you come from? You know, where you used to live."

"Its horrible. Constant Blackouts, even with the Solar Panel walkways." He had a feeling of sadness in his eyes."That's the reason why I left. I needed to get away from there."He then looked back at her. "How about Johto? I hear its a nice place."

In the room, Yuki started to sleep on the bed. Pika and Raine kept Charmy in check, making sure he didn't burn anything with his tail or left the room. Though he eventually sat down upset. Pika entertained him by stretching his face into different shapes.

Hey guys! Ledah has lost his creative roleplaying spark, so he gave me control of this roleplay. I am supposed to bunny his character. We can just do this roleplay I suppose, dock, and the begin our adventure in Furoh! =)

So what he have to do is basically meet up, talk, go to bed, wake up, do the tournament thing, something unexpected happens, and then we dock and we're done. Alright, so I'll begin.

Meaning to break the silence, Kono put his hand on Travis' shoulder. "He's just this really famous trainer and stuff...but yeah, that doesn't really matter." Kono looked up at a nearby bar and noticed some very good-looking women. He then proceeded by checked his watch, "I'm kind of on a tight schedule. You see, I'm the activities coordinator for the ship and have plenty of things to do. Why don't you just go check out the room and stuff, maybe meet a few people. Socialize and stuff? I'll see you later tonight" Kono trailed off, turning away from Travis and walking away. The women were on the move, but Kono suddenly remembered something. Immediately, he made a U-turn and walked back up to Travis with his short stubby legs. "Meet me at table 95 for the formal dinner tonight around 7 o'clock. See ya!" Kono waved as he walked quickly away from Travis. it wasn't that he was walking any faster than a normal person, but his short legs required him to move at a much faster pace to keep up with others. "Ladies!...” he called out, trying his best to catch up to them.

"That was...odd" Travis admitted to himself. He picked up his things and walked down a lit corridor with a green carpet. There were rooms on each side of the hallway, obviously the staying rooms for occupants of the ship. Travis walked aimlessly down the halls, trying to find his room. With some luck, he stumbled upon it eventually. "Here it is! Room 69!" Travis thought triumphantly. He opened the door and found a pleasantly calm setting:

The floor was covered in the same green carpeting as the corridor; it had actually continued into the room. The walls were a conformed off-white color; as opposed to the hallways strictly white covering. And boy, if there was ever a definition of symmetrical, then this was it. It was like the room was split into two except...it wasn't. There were two light fixtures hanging from the ceiling that fit perfectly on either sides of the room. Two twin beds laid each with matching tables wit ha light similar to the fixtures on top of them. There was not much else besides a bathroom to Travis' left and a closet to his right. "Well, it certainly isn't as good as the Kumquat Hotel's, but I suppose it'll do," Travis thought. He wasted no time in putting his bag on the bed so he could take stuff out; there was no point in putting his clothes in a closet he would only use for one day. Quickly Travis changed into his swim trunks and took out his towel from the bag with his two pokemon's pokeballs.

After changing into attire appropriate for a day of fun in the sun Travis went upstairs to the deck. The moment he stepped into the sun he felt his slim body engulfed by its pleasing warmth. There was a pool with kids splashing and laughing with their parents keeping a watchful eye. Still, trainers battling each other with their pokemon mostly populated the deck. Travis had recently had an intense workout session with his pokemon, so they didn't need any training for tomorrow's pokemon battling tournament; today was a day for relaxing. Travis tossed the two pokeballs he was carrying and released his fellow traveling companions: Nidoran and Squirtle. They both cheered when they realized where they were; it reminded them very much of the tropical days back home in the Orange Archipelago. They ran around like maniacs and immediately jumped into the pool to have some fun. "Have fun guys!" Travis called out to them. "They deserve to have lots of fun today," Travis thought. Placing his blue bag on the ground next to him, Travis sat down in a sunbathing chair. After successfully applying a layer of suntan lotion, Travis placed his stuff on the ground and took out his best friend, "Pokemon Battling for DUMMIES". It was a rather large book, and Travis had covered it with a cover so as to not be made fun of by others.

At he first he hadn't noticed, but eventually it became apparent that the person seated next to Travis was a bit...odd. It was a rather scorching day, yet the young man in glasses was sporting a full suit with all of the buttons on the jacket buttoned! Travis had learned not to judge others by their appearance, however. That's what his mother warned him not to do before he left, and he intended to stand by her advice. He seemed serious looking and well into his book. It was much thicker than Travis' book, and the print was much smaller. Worry y about yourself, not someone else!" Luana, Travis' mother's voice rang throughout his head. Another one of her gemstones of wisdom he supposed. "He probably doesn't want to be disturbed anyway..." Travis concluded. The sea breeze and laughter of people and pokemon was very relaxing to Travis, and before long he lost track of time while carefully digesting his informative book. Suddenly a black covering came over Travis' eyes. "Who is that?" Travis asked quite hesitatively.

"Squirtle Squirt!" The tiny turtle pokemon surprised his trainer.

"Aw, you got me Squirtle. Hey, where's Nidoran?" Travis asked. Squirtle pointed to the not-to-far distance as the way of responded to Travis. Travis made out a small purple poison bunny together wit ha blue bunny of the same size. "Hey Nidoran, come over here!" Travis called out. The bunny started bouncing towards Travis and almost tackled him. “Geeze, what’s gotten into you Nidoran?” Travis asked. ”And I thought Nidoran was the quiet type!” Travis wondered. “I hope there’s nothing wrong with him..”.

But there was something wrong with him. You see clever reader, Nidoran had been infected by an infectious disease known commonly as, “the love bug”. As a cute female Nidoran appeared in front of the young man with the glasses and the suit reading next to Travis, it became obvious why Travis’ Nidoran was so happy. As both Nidoran couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other, nor stop blushing, Travis turned to the boy who was still busy with his book, “It seems like our Nidorans have a crush on each other”.

“Well, it is a wonderful place…if you didn’t have to live with my parents.” Emily sighed to herself as old memories of her step mother came back. Always trying to make her a “proper” lady, even if it did never work.

“Well, even if I never really left my home town, I remember the pictures I saw from my fathers past. It was quite wonderful back home. Al of the pokemon, grassy fields, and lushes green forests.” She sighed once more seeing a picture of the grassy fields and the forests outside of the city. It was so peaceful then. Then it was shattered by her father re-marrying to a witch. With the witch now, even with two younger sisters only 2 years younger, only she had the “how to be a proper lady” training. It was such a pain.

“Well, just so I won’t have to think of old memories any more, what kind of pokemon have you gotten so far?” Emily asked as Tanzanite came over and Emily put her in her arms. The small blue pokemon quickly fell asleep in her arms.

"Well..." Shiro began as he started to count them, "I have a Piplup, Pikachu, Charmander, and a Chikorita. They were all given to me with the exception of my Piplup, Raine. I found her in the beach hurt and I nursed her back to health." Shiro looked up recalling the time he had spent with Raine as he nursed her back to health, and he smiled. Her smile was really adorable really, she was his little penguin Pokemon.

"Well, Pikachu is called 'Pika', Charmander is 'Charmy', and my Chikorita is known as 'Yuki' because my bro called her that. They all have distinct personalities and are a handful. It's pretty funny really."Shiro then laughed at the thought of them running around and that went from a smile to a face of a bit of fear.

Are they making a mess in the room? Is Charmy being too much of a handful?He then shook the thought from his mind. The last thing he wanted was to think of something bad.

And in the cabin, Pika was getting tired of stretching his face, so Charmy started to whine a bit, so Raine made Bubbles out of her Bubble attack and Charmy started to pop them. Maybe it will keep him entertained this time.

“So, you have almost one starter from every region then. If I’m right; the Charmander comes from the Kanto region, Chikorita comes from Johto, and Piplup comes from the Sinnoh region.” Emily said, then looked at the two poke balls with her other pokemon in them and let them out.

“Here are mine; Emerald the Treecko-“Emily paused as the small brown bird pokemon flew onto her arm “-and Citrine the Pidgey and, who you have all ready meant, Tanzanite the Riolu.” Emily finished as she let Tanzanite down next to Emerald.

“I remember that I found Emerald under a tree injured and then nursed it back to health too. Then I have gotten Tanzanite after finding its old poke ball lying next to the river and got Citrine from my father.” Emily said as she through back to when all of those things happened. It seemed just yesterday she meant all of her pokemon.

“These guys where my best friends, from the day I got them till the end of time they always will be.” She smiled at her pokemon before they resumed there small game of tag. They seemed happy together. Happy as can be.

“Hmm…even if they don’t get along some times, they will always enjoy a game of tag with each other.” Emily said taking one last look at the three pokemon and finally turning to Shiro, but out of the corner of her eye, she kept a watch on them.